Czech Railways

At our October meeting we welcomed Robert Pritchard, Fixtures Secretary of
the Sheffield Branch and Editor of Today's Railways UK, to talk on one of
his specialist subjects, the railways of the Czech Republic.    He showed a
fascinating selection of images of the railways and tramways of that
country.  By way of background the Czech Republic has a dense network of
railway lines by European standards, with some of the branches and secondary
routes franchised out to other operators to run.   Other routes only see
trains on summer weekends whilst a few are totally closed now to passenger
traffic but available for freight and charters.  There are also two open
access long distance operators.   There are also seven tram systems around
the country with Praha and Brno being the major ones.   The Czech Republic
has a wide variety of countryside and we saw trains in sunshine as well as
snow as Robert has visited the country at all times of year.  There is still
some heavy industry dating to the soviet era particularly around Most in the
west of the country and we saw how that location has been changed.

Our show started in the capital, Praha, and then continued around the
various regions of the country.   Robert's images included electric and
diesel locomotive hauled trains and some of the variety of multiple units
used in a variety of locations on both scheduled passenger and freight
services and also on various special charters run.   They ranged from the
newest EMU and DMU stock ("RegioPanthers" and "RegioSharks") to classes
around 50 years old and soon to be withdrawn.  The noisy diesel "Grumpies"
popular with enthusiasts featured in several locations mostly on special
trains.

We also saw a variety of tram images from all of the systems, including some
shots taken inside depots during organised visits over the years.

Thanks to Robert for venturing to Didcot to present to us.  We hope that we
shall be able to welcome him again sometime.